


The Hawk and the Crow

by Timelesshadow



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Destiny, Multi, Mystery, Revenge, Science Fiction, Western
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:27:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22200313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timelesshadow/pseuds/Timelesshadow
Summary: Years after its decimation by Dredgen Yor, the town of Palamon has grown once again under the watchful eye of a new Guardian, Halcon The Nighthawk. However, after a rising threat breaks the peace, the hunter will go on a journey of revenge that will lead him down a path of lies, conspiracy, and phantoms of the past.
Kudos: 1





	The Hawk and the Crow

1 - The Nighthawk's Gamble

Boots hit the dirt hard, kicking up dust as the hunter sprinted towards the edge of the cliff. Overhead, a Fallen ketch flew by with a mighty roar from its engines. The spacecraft caused tremors as it cut through the sky at low altitude, descending for a landing. As the ground began to run out beneath him, he leapt over the ledge diving into the canyon. He fell headfirst into the earth for a few moments before flipping upright to activate his boot rockets, breaking his downward momentum and allowing him to land lightly onto the platform below him. He kept low to the ground and moved quietly into position behind some crates.

Halcon peered from behind the supplies, watching as the great ketch settled into the canyon below with all the others. The yellow glow from his avian eyes were the only thing that could be seen from the darkened corner. The ship was well worn, the brown coats of paint peeling off from damage it had taken over its many years of piracy. The guns on the sides and front had their edges singed from the many rounds they had fired. The symbol of the house of dusk had been hastily painted onto it's hull, just like all the other ships docked here. It was a formidable vessel to be sure, but it wasn't the one he was here for.

The Eliksni Shipyard, constructed inside what was once the Grand Canyon, was a meeting place for the once great Fallen houses; a neutral zone where repairs could be made to their vessels and deals could be struck between the kells. It was a well kept and well guarded secret from the knowledge of the vanguard. However, these days most Fallen fell under the unified banner of the house of dusk, forced together through the collective losses they had suffered from the guardians over the past few years. Every ship here except one flew the purple flag, a smaller ketch nestled in the middle of all the others painted in all black and covered in experimental cloaking tech. The technology was the same as a Fallen vandal's invisibility generator, but on a vastly larger scale. The ketch belonged to a newer kell: Teknics the Hidden.

Halcon's target.

He crouched back behind the crates and summoned Robin. The ghost appeared into his palm, the last few rays of sunlight from the twilight sky reflecting off the red on her shell. The machine blinked and looked up at him with her single pale eye. "Is it here?" She asked.

Halcon nodded. "Right smack dab in the middle of them. Take a peak over and see how many you count."

The ghost flew over his shoulder and peered over their cover. She looked around, chirping and beeping as she analyzed the shipyard. After a few more moments, she flew back down to meet him at eyelevel. "Do you want me to actually tell you how many there are, or would you be satisfied with just a lot of them?" She questioned with concern in her voice.

"How many are actually outside their ships?" Asked the hunter.

"...A lot of them," Robin replied flatly.

Halcon sighed in annoyance and peaked back over the crates to look over the situation, trying to plan out a route that kept him out of the way of the many Fallen below.

"We need a new plan. We need backup!" Insisted Robin.

"No, plan is the same… It's a good plan," He said, trying to reassure his companion, and secretly to himself as well.

"We could alert them now! Zavala could have strike teams here in minutes. We stand a much better chance that way."

"No," He said firmly. "It took us weeks to track down this son of a bitch. If we spook him now, we may lose him for good, and he goes right back to attacking unsuspecting ships. Same goes for the rest of them. We have to catch them with their pants down if we want to catch them at all."

"I don't like this," Robin muttered.

"I know!" He said frustrated at first, but then cooled down. "But we don't have a choice if we wanna stop this guy."

Robin looked down for a moment and nodded with resolution. "Yeah… Plus the bounty on him ain't too bad either," she said jokingly.

"Damn right." Halcon said with a smile, "Now let's figure out a plan on how to get over-,"

Halcon was cut off as a skiff flew by them at great speed, startling them both. He looked back over and saw it flying over the shipyard, passing over all the ketches, including Teknics'. With an idea forming, Halcon quickly looked around for another dropship, and saw one flying in from the east at a much lower altitude. Halcon stood up and took a few steps back to get a running start for his next jump.

"Wait what are you…?" Asked Robin.

"Just trust me," replied Halcon with confidence as he took off at full speed, jumping from the platform.

Halcon tried his best to aim for the skiff below him, activating his jets twice to course correct and match the ship's trajectory. He came down onto the top of the skiff hard, rolling onto his side and scrambling to find something to hold onto. He managed to grab hold of a railing, allowing him to steady himself and slowly regain his footing. He had hurt his legs in the fall, almost certain he had broken a few bones. He slowly began to feel Robin channeling his light through his body to mend his injury. Still, feeling one's bones slide back together was not an enjoyable experience.

As the skiff flew over the shipyard, Halcon kept a close eye out for the best moment to jump down onto the ketch. As they grew closer, he timed out when he would need to jump. However, moments before he would do so, the skiff made a sudden sharp turn, causing the hunter to lose his balance and tumble from the dropship. Halcon attempted to recover while mid-air, eventually regaining control and angling himself towards the Ketch. He fired off both of his rocket bursts to give him enough forward momentum to land at least close to his target.

As he fell, he shouted "When I hit the ground, be ready to get me back up as quickly as you can!"

"On it!" Confirmed Robin. "Based on the current trajectory, we're gonna… well land isn't the right word for it… we're gonna splat onto the ketch parked next to the target."

"Very encouraging," the hunter replied sarcastically.

Halcon picked up speed as he fell. He flew through the air a bird, his red cape flapping madly against the wind. As he made his final approach, he closed his eyes and braced for the impact.

He died instantly.

Being dead was always a bizarre experience for Halcon. It always felt much longer than it actually was. Sometimes his deaths were quick, not really giving him a chance to process the pain. Other times… well it turns out that getting disintegrated really hurts. Regardless, the state of actually being dead was always new and strange to him. It was a state of both existing and somehow not at the same time; a contradiction, yet it was so. All there was was the void and his thoughts, formless and without shape. He couldn't recall if it was like this in his first death. He wasn't even really sure if it was like this for other guardians. All he did know was that this was never something he would get used to.

After what felt like hours to him, a light finally began to shine from the void, engulfing his self and once again giving him form. Halcon gasped, sitting up quickly, air filling his lungs. He looked up to see Robin floating over him. They had made it to the larger ketch.

"How long?" He asked.

"Only a couple seconds, but we have to hurry! Teknics' ship has finished refueling. They're preparing to take off!" She shouted in panic as the ketch began to rise.

Halcon quickly got to his feet and began to run atop the larger ketch, watching the smaller one slowly begin to rise and take off. He couldn't afford to let it get away. He looked along the top of the ship, searching for some outcropping that would allow him to make the jump across.

"Robin, bring out my sparrow!" He ordered.

He leapt into the air while the long, slender speeder manifested itself perfectly below Halcon, who immediately took off at top speed down the top of the Ketch. For a moment, he was able to keep pace with the black ship, but as it continued to rise, it also picked up more speed. Halcon looked over and saw that he was about to be level with the underbelly cargo bay of the Ketch, a few platforms suspended underneath the ship with no real protection. It was how the Fallen boarded and exited their massive ships, and it was also Halcon's last shot to get on.

Just as the cargo bay was in sight, the hunter made a sharp right with his sparrow, sending him off the side of the ketch. The speed from the vehicle carried him about halfway across the gap before the momentum gave out, at which point Halcon jumped from the sparrow to make it the rest of the way himself. With two more boosts from his boots, he was able to just barely make it into the cargo bay, rolling onto his side. However, the ketch picked up speed and started to rise at a 45 degree angle as it made its way upward. Halcon began to slide backwards as they climbed upward.

"Grab onto something!" Robin shouted.

Halcon began to try and grab onto anything he could as he fell backward. He clawed at the grating below him, quickly running out of floor. He spotted netting covering the top of the cargo bay, supplies suspended above them. Halcon quickly rolled over onto his back, and then jumped upward with all the force he could muster. With the combined strength of his jump and the upward climb of the ship, he managed to grab ahold of the netting just in time.

Halcon held on for dear life as the ketch broke through the atmosphere. It took every ounce of his strength to not lose his grip, but he managed to stay on. After a few moments he looked behind him, and saw the earth in its full beauty. He had seen his home many times from space, but never from outside the comfort of his ship. The open design of the cargo bay left nothing between himself and the void of space. He also finally noticed that he had become weightless, allowing him to finally let go and push himself forward to the airlock.

He managed to make his way over to the terminal next to the airlock and summoned Robin to let her get to work. She began to scan the terminal. "Okay, there are roughly twelve hostiles on the other side of this door," she stated as she continued to work.

Halcon nodded, unholstering his silver hand cannon from his hip. "Alright, on my mark open the door and I'll-"

"No need, just hang on to something," said Robin, cutting him off.

Suddenly the door to the airlock opened, air rushing out of the room and sending all of the Fallen inside flying out into space. Halcon managed to grab ahold of a beam to keep from getting swept away himself. A vandal managed to grab ahold of the doorframe, just barely hanging on. It made eye contact with Halcon for a moment and snarled at him. The hunter quickly brought the barrel of his cannon to the Fallen's head, emptying a single round into its skull. The headless body let go and drifted off into the void.

The opening of the airlock had set off an alarm on the ship. The pair quickly floated inside the chamber. Robin floated over to the terminal on the opposite side of the door and closed it. She reactivated the artificial gravity and air began to return to the room.

Halcon looked angrily over at his ghost. "You could have warned me you were gonna do that!"

"I could have… but then I wouldn't have gotten to see your face when I opened the door," laughed Robin.

"You can't see it anyway, I have my helmet on," he retorted.

"I know, but I bet it was still funny," giggled the ghost. The pair stared at one another for a moment. Halcon titled his head. "Alright fine! I'm sorry, okay? I knew you would be fine though."

"Thank you," said Halcon, finally satisfied after the ghost's prank.

Halcon holstered his gun and began to move forward into the ship. "Find me a terminal and I can pull up details on the ship," said Robin.

The hunter looked around and saw an alien computer on the opposite end of the room. He jogged over to it and let Robin get to work. After a few chirps and beeps, the ghost looked over to him and said, "Looks like the crew numbers in about a hundred, mostly dregs and vandals, but a few captains here and there."

"Minus the twelve we just sent out into space right?" Asked Halcon.

Robin paused for a moment "...Yes, minus them. They're spread out but heavily armed. You'll wanna engage them a few at a time."

Suddenly, a door opened up from the side of the room, Fallen pouring into the chamber. A captain emerged from the entrance, ducking below the frame, and pointed at Halcon shouting something in Eliksni.

"Speaking of which," said Halcon, grabbing Robin and rushing towards cover. He plucked a swarm grenade from his belt and tossed it into the advancing crowd of dregs before sliding behind a crate. The explosive flew through the air, smacking into the face of one unlucky dreg and splitting into a swarm of smaller grenades, seeking out all nearby combatants and detonating, taking out a few of them.

"How many are left?" He asked as he readied his hand cannon. He glanced down at the silver Tex Mechanica and spun the chamber until the lights on it turned arc blue.

"A little over a dozen. Be careful though, there are snipers posted up in the corners with line rifles, and the captain has heavy ordnance," Robin warned.

"Got it," confirmed Halcon, rising up and jumping over the crate he hid behind. As he jumped, he whipped his cannon to the ready and fired at four oncoming vandals preparing to flank him, fanning the hammer as he jumped through the air towards them. Each shot found its way to the skull of its target. The hunter rolled with his landing, popping up in front of a dreg who he quickly sliced the throat of with a lightning fast strike from his knife.

As the dreg began to fall, Halcon heard the charge of a scorch cannon, and quickly lifted the dead Fallen upwards to toss at the incoming shot. The burst of fire destroyed the corpse and sent Halcon flying backwards. He looked up to see the Captain advancing on him with the massive cannon. He quickly ducked back behind cover and began making his way around the room, attempting to put some distance between himself and the captain as he took care of the rest of the enemies.

As he navigated the cargo, he found himself narrowly missing a line rifle shot that would have nailed him in the head had it not missed. He looked over to see a vandal in the corner of the room, charging up another shot. Before he had time to fire it though, Halcon threw his knife across the room. The blade landed squarely into the alien's skull. It let out a shriek as ether escaped its mask.

Halcon made his way around the room a few times, thinning out the numbers of the Fallen and evading the captain. Once the Fallen's numbers began to dwindle, he made his move against the towering one. Halcon charged the captain from its left flank, firing his hand cannon as fast as he could pull the trigger. The arc charged bullets ate away its shield at a remarkably quick pace. Once they had depleted, the shield shattered, stunning the eliksni. He finished off the captain by firing one final shot into its head. The captain fell backwards from the force of the blast and collapsed onto the floor, dead.

Halcon brushed the blue alien blood and guts off of his white vest. He didn't wear much in the way of armor, just padded leather clothing. This is what allowed him to move quickly on the battlefield, although it didn't keep him safe from injury or gunfire, which meant Robin had to work extra hard to keep him standing. It was a decision he typically took a lot of criticism for. The hunter summoned his ghost into his palm and said, "Not bad, ehh?"

"Hmm… could've done it a bit faster if you had used your super," she pointed out.

"Nah, I'm saving that for the big guy himself."

"Well, what do you intend to do about the rest of the ship?"

"We don't have to fight the rest of the ship. We just gotta get to Teknics and then take control of the ketch. If I were a betting man, I'd say he's in the bridge. Set a waypoint for it," he ordered.

"On it," she replied.

Halcon looked down at the dead captain once more, and happened to glance at his weapon. Getting an idea, he reached down to the powerful launcher and hoisted the heavy piece of metal onto his shoulder. The weapon was unbearably hot and heavy, but he could feel the power radiating off of it.

"This should even the fight a bit," he said with some confidence as he took off for the bridge.

The pair had a few small engagements on the way to the bridge, though nothing as large as the first one. They snaked their way through metallic hallways littered with spare parts and weapons.

The Fallen didn't exactly keep their ships in the best condition, even the ones with cutting edge cloaking tech.

Eventually, the two made it to the entrance of the bridge. He moved to the opposite end of the hallway from the door, giving himself some space from the entryway, gripping the heavy launcher tightly. Halcon took a deep breath, readying himself for the fight.

"Opening the door in three, two…" said Robin.

The metal door slid open, and the hunter opened fire. The giant slugs of flaming metal launched forward into the bridge, slamming into computer systems, Fallen, and everything else in the way. He fired wildly, shooting at every slight movement he could find as he walked forwards into the bridge. By the time the gun finally cooled, the room was empty, littered with corpses and fire.

Halcon dropped the heavy gun and searched among the dead. Surely, a Fallen large enough to be a kell would be easy enough to spot, yet he couldn't locate him. After searching the room, Halcon sighed and walked up a flight of stairs to the main control terminal, summoning Robin.

"He's not here…" he said with disappointment "Okay, lock down the ship. Make sure everyone stays where they are and can't get out without a blowtorch. We don't want anyone going anyone-"

"LOOK OUT!" screamed Robin as a massive blade of arc energy came crashing down between the two.

Halcon was able to just barely dodge out of the way in time. After rolling out of the way, he looked up to see the kell, towering over where he once stood wielding a massive sword, glowing blue with electric arc energy. The kell stood almost twice his size, covered in fallen tech with a long black cloak tied around one of his shoulders. The Fallen looked over to him and chuckled. Halcon readied his hand cannon once again, preparing for the kell to charge him, but instead the eliksni warrior reactivated his cloaking device.

He could just barely make out the shimmer of the giant, still expecting the Fallen to come for him. However, the kell turned and began to lumber over towards Robin.

"Haaaal!" She cried out in panic. She attempted to duck behind a computer terminal, which Teknics quickly smashed.

Halcon rushed over to where he saw the shimmer and used his boot rockets to leap on top of the Fallen. He took out his knife and began to wildly stab at the beast, hanging on for dear life as Teknics tried to throw him. Eventually, Halcon got lucky and hit something important. The strike caused sparks to fly out from the kell's back, and the invisibility generator died, exposing the Fallen.

Teknics roared, grabbed Halcon with one of his four arms, and slung him to the other side of the room, down the stairs. He hit the wall, hard, and fell to the floor. He coughed, blood spattering the inside of his helmet. He wasn't sure but he thought that the kell had broken a few of his ribs with that throw, maybe even punctured a lung. Robin flew over to him and quickly began healing him. Teknics stormed towards them ready to finish his kill.

"You have to get up!" Robin said urgently.

Halcon gritted his teeth and stood, his strength returning to him. He watched as the kell approached him, massive sword in tow. He dragged it along the metal floor, making a hideous scraping noise as he walked closer and closer. The kell didn't want to just kill him; he wanted to beat him; to defeat him in single combat, and to prove that he had earned his title as leader of his crew. He could almost feel the smug grin the kell surely wore.

He intended to wipe it off his face. Literally.

Halcon drew his steel once more, and began to limp to challenge his opponent. Teknics let out another laugh and began to pick up his pace, breaking into a charge with his sword raised high. The hunter did so as well. The two let out a powerful cry, with Halcon jumping up the stairs to face his foe while Teknics brought down his blade into a mighty swing.

As he flew, Halcon summoned all the energy the light gave to him, and channeled it into his gun. Suddenly, his hand cannon, along with the rest of him, caught fire, solar energy coursing through him. The eyes of his white nighthawk helm burned bright as the sun, giving him more strength than any normal hunter could muster with a golden gun. All of his light, his strength, and his power had been focused into his steel. As the sword prepared to come down on him, the hunter aimed his gun, and with a loud crack, fired a single, powerful shot into the kell. The golden bullet traveled upwards, through the bottom of Teknics' head. The solar energy burned through the kells body as the slug tore through him, causing him to explode into a brilliant ball of fire.

He let out one final cry as he died, his sword dropping to the floor.

Halcon landed at the top of the steps and looked back over to his ghost, the ashes of his enemy at his feet. "So where was I?" He asked.

"You wanted me to lock down the ship," she reminded, floating past him to head back to the computer.

"Right!" He said, reaching into his leather satchel and taking out a small jar. "And once you do that get Zavala on the line please."

As Robin got to work on the terminal, Halcon knelt down to scoop what used to be Teknics into the jar. Once he had collected a few of the ashes, he sealed the container and took out a pen to write "Teknics the Hidden" on the side. He stowed the jar back in his satchel and walked over to Robin, who was just finishing up locking down the ship.

"Think the vanguard will accept ashes as proof for his bounty?" He asked jokingly.

"Normally I'd say no, but we do have his ship... so I say your chances are pretty good," she replied.

"Good point."

An alarm went off in the ship and all the doors to the bridge shut and locked themselves.

"Okay, ship's locked down. Patching you through to Zavala," said Robin.

After waiting for a few moments, Halcon could hear the comms line finally connect. "This is Commander Zavala. You are broadcasting on an emergency vanguard line. Who is this?"

"Heeey Zavala, it's Halcon. How are you?" He asked.

An awkward silence followed.

"Halcon… the hunter…"

Silence

"Cayde's friend."

Annoyed silence.

Halcon sighed, "The one who looks like a bird…"

"Right… I'm sorry, I can't remember every guardian in the Tower. My apologies," he apologized with some sincerity.

"Yeah… Anyway, I have some good news! You know Teknics, the prick who's been blowing up our ships then running away? Well he's dead and I got his ship!"

"What!? Who authorized you for this op?" Zavala demanded.

"Well… no one. I saw the bounty on him and thought… Look it doesn't matter. What does matter is that he is dead now and I have control of his ship! We're sitting in orbit right now! Got the whole thing locked down!" He said proudly.

"Well… while this is certainly good news, I would advise against taking on operations without vanguard backing. You could have been killed by yourself! Regardless, I will send a strike team to come and get you, as well as retrieve the ship," he said firmly.

"I sense that you're mad, but you won't be after the second part of my good news!" Halcon added.

"There's a second part?" Inquired Zavala with some annoyance in his voice.

"Yes! While tracking down this asshole, I discovered an entire Fallen shipyard! Ketches go there to make repairs and resupply. It's a prime target!" Exclaimed Halcon.

"This… is good news indeed! Thank you ?Hunter. Good work... Cayde would be proud."

Halcon felt a bit of pain with that last comment.

"Yeah… I'm sending the coordinates now. Can you send for Jazz and Havoc-2 to come get me if they're not too busy?" asked Halcon.

"I'll see what I can do. Zavala out," said the titan, cutting the feed.

Halcon looked over to Robin and pulled back his hood, took off his helmet, and smiled.

"Told ya it was a good plan."


End file.
